Dear, NYC
Words can never describe the feeling I get once I enter the city. Right when I get off the airplane and head into JFK, my mood automatically changes. I'm a much happier person; a more positive person when I arrive and I don't feel that way about anything else or anywhere else. You know, sometimes its weird to be in love with a specific place and I never thought I could love anything more than life itself, but it happened.
The city lights are probably my absolute favorite thing about the city. Just like Alicia Keys song says "these streets will make you feel brand new and these lights will inspire you", they truly inspire me. The streets; the hustle and bustle of it all with random people coming up to me and hobos with "in need of money" signs makes me feel like a whole new person. I've never experienced that where I live, so seeing it in the city makes me feel different in a good way. Looking at the city lights on Top of the Rock really makes me appreciate that particular moment I am in right then and there. I see lights for miles either from major skyscrapers or the little apartments on the east side and each person and place has their own story, just like I do. Millions of lights with millions of stories and that's what gets me every time I'm staring into the distance of my favorite place.
I remember the very first time I walked towards the infamous Times Square, where it seemed like everywhere I turned was complete madness, but I loved it. In every direction I faced, there were those annoying people who come up to you with flyers asking if you want to go to a comedy show later that night, or the mickey mouse look a likes which aren't actually look a likes because their masks our discolored and all they want is money, and even those people who are rushing to get to their next meeting. Times Square is my all time favorite place to be in the city because no matter how many times I visit it, it never fails to amaze more each time. The red stairs right in the middle of Times Square makes me look at all of my surroundings of all the different people watching the same exact thing I am. They are just as amazed and inspired by it all just as like me.
The noise of the city gets my heart skipping a beat whenever I hear a taxi cab honk, the people at the subway stations playing music, or even the impatient New Yorkers swearing nonstop. The people that live here get to hear these noises every single day and it probably doesn't even phase them, but to a person like me it makes me extremely happy. The noises of New York City is what makes it New York City. If there was no noise there wouldn't be a point.
There are so many smells in the city and each one holds a special place in my heart. That might sound extremely weird but think of it this way; within minutes I can smell a thousand different smells just by standing in one place. I can be in a subway station where it smells terribly awful to being in Little Italy where all I can smell is homemade pasta and Cannoli's to being near a street vendor selling honey roasted peanuts. The scent is extraordinary and is like nothing I've ever smelled before. There is no other place where it I can smell a million different scents in seconds.
I think what I love the most about the city and what inspires me is that each person has a story whether it be tourists or New Yorkers. My story is better told in NYC than anywhere else. I'm never my true self unless I am there and being there is what makes me the happiest. The streets, the lights, the atmosphere, and everything else affects me in a way no other place does nor ever will. All of my problems, struggles, stress, etc. goes away once I step into the big apple air.
This letter goes out to New York City, thank you for inspiring me with all the magic and happiness New York City has to offer. Not many people can say they love the city, but I can assure you that I will always love everything about it.
Love,
A girl who always has an Empire State of Mind
